9 volt battery?
Check! 386 power amp chip?
Check! $20-30 total budget?
Check! Powers a 1x10 cab up through a 4x12
cab? Check! Ultra-low wattage so you can rip out
the shred while the baby sleeps?
Check!

The
ubiquity of small cheap guitar practice amps entered the world of DIY through
the LM386/JRC38 amplifier chip. This simple chip offers good performance,
minimal support parts and is available in a range of version, some which can
handle up to 18 volts DC and put out over a watt of power.

This great chip has spawned the commercial Smokey amp, and various great
practice amp projects from runoffgroove.com such as the Ruby and the Little Gem.
(nore about my Ruby builds
here). Years ago, I built
a Ruby using a PCB from GeneralGuitarGadgets. It was quite easy to build and I
was amazed that a 9v battery into a 386 chip could easily power a 4x12 guitar
cab. But as always, there were mods to be tried.

The Noisy Cricket Mark I

After
a many evenings of experimenting, I ended up with the Noisy Cricket Mark 1.
Built into a simple Hammond enclosure, the Noisy Cricket added a simple tone
control, and grit mod for getting just a bit more sizzle. I built quite a few
Noisy Crickets for folks who wanted one. But I met even more people who wanted
to build their own. So several DIY versions have been available.

Here's the first prototype build of the Noisy Cricket with
the just the Grit boost switch: (This pedal is
now in the collection of Richard Guy at
www.guytronix.com super nice guy and awesome
amp kits!)

The first run sold out in one day. I was
surprised and pretty stoked at the same time.

I even built one out of an old picture frame.

Production
Run 2

Having shown the one of the
production units to some local dealers, and
based on emails from folks about missing out on
the first run, I decided to do a second
production run. I did about 20 of these. The only
change is that replaced the power on/off toggle
switch with a more intuitive switch/volume knob
combination. As with the previous run, there
were be lots of color/finish/knob variations.
Here's the prototype for production run 2:

The indomitable Adam at
Swankbox has provide me with a set of
beautifully painted enclosures. A run of ten of
those will also be part of production run 2. The
following pictures don't do justice to these
boxes--they are simply fantastic.

The Noisy
Cricket Mark II

For this version, I wanted to leave the circuit intact, but work with a
custom PCB and board-mount parts. The result, is this:

I found some great enclosures from Boxenclosures.com and went to work. The
Mark II was fun to build and there are probably about 100 or so units out there.

The Noisy Cricket Mark III

I am currently working on a Mark III version. I want to keep the simplicity
there but accomplish to changes that have been requested by so many DIY
builders. First, fix the tone stack. Currently it is more like a 'body' control
rather than a tone control. The second most common request is MOAR GAIN!. I'll
post pictures, ideas, schematics and progress as this works its way down the
Beavis Conveyer Belt of Progress.

Various Schematics and Layouts

Ok, so here we have the interesting bits. How to build your own. Schematics,
layouts, all that good stuff.

Noisy Cricket Mark II PCB Layout and Project Guide

Radio Shack Protoboard Build Guide

I figured it would be a good idea to figure out how to build a NCMII on one of those
Radio Shack general-purpose PCBs.
They are available ($2.50 for 2!) at
almost every Radio Shack and you
don't have to etch, cut, etc. So here's a handy
build guide showing the info you
need to build your own cricket
without etching boards.
PDF Version